The Shrine (2010)
Starring: Aaron Ashmore, Cindy Sampson, Meghan Heffern
Writers: Jon Knautz, Trevor Matthews & Brendan Moore
Director: Jon Knautz
Story:
Carmen --a journalist-- learns about an American backpacker gone missing somewhere in Poland. Despite getting the thumbs down “no fucking way in hell” treatment from her boss, she and Sara --another journalist-- decide to go check it out all secretively 'n shit. Also, as a way to try and work out some kinks in their relationship, Carmen talks her boyfriend Marcus into coming, too. He's a photographer, so it's a WIN-WIN situation... until they get to Alvania- a truly fucked and hush-hush Polish village --fictional. Once Carmen, Sara and Marcus take notice to a strange, non-moving fog hulking overhead in the forest, the locals become quite aggressive in getting them the hell out of their settlement.
Review:
I guess I was a bit spoiled with Jon Knautz's gory and hilarious as shit Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, as I was expecting a whole helluva lot more out of The Shrine. I definitely respect he and his co-writers --Trevor Matthews (also starring and serving as executive producer) and Brendan Moore-- for going in a different direction, but I don't feel like this film really hits a high mark until the latter half. Yeah, the last twenty minutes or so are completely fucking awesome; the time leading up to the finale is pretty dull (this coming from a dude who likes slow building movies) with a lead female so goddamn idiotic that I wanted to reach through the screen and slap some sense into her, myself. More on that later. Lastly, don't expect some big element of surprise with where the story is going, because there's far too many giveaways ahead of the curve. They basically hold your hand through this shit.
I do give major props to there being no subtitles for the Polish speaking parts. I read lots of complaints about this, but hey, it helped create a creepiness and wonderment of what the villagers were talking about. I also read some complaints that the Canadian actors speaking in Polish are quite poor, but it doesn't really matter here, if you ask me. Pretty sure the whole point is that we, the viewers, are supposed to be just as lost as the characters. Still, even with this element, it's too damn easy to see where the story is going.
I will give credit to the cinematography, as well. The film carries many overhead shots of the land where The Shrine takes place, and it's all pretty breathtaking. Also, when things start to go raw for Carmen, Sara and Marcus, the pace picks up a bit and throws us into one seriously vicious chase scene through the woods. Set decoration is pretty sweet, as is costume design for the religious villagers. These mother fuckers look trapped back in time as shit. The direction for the finale is brilliant, too, all taking place through three rooms in a podunk farmhouse. So yeah, it's shot fairly well. Moving on.
There are only two likable characters in The Shrine; Marcus (Aaron Ashmore) and Henryk (Trevor Matthews), two dudes that are pretty much pitted against each other nearly every time they are on screen together. Henryk isn't likable in that “awwww, he's a good dude” sense, he's just a fucking bad ass, and Matthews plays the intimidating role fairly well. Marcus is the ONLY smart one out of the three leads. Shit, before I went to IMDB, I didn't even know that Shawn Ashmore had a twin. I just saw Aaron in this flick and figured “Oh wow, it's dude from Frozen and X-Men”. Nope... twin. Anyway, Marcus is the only one to cling to, and Ashmore works the role of a disgusted boyfriend put in a severely fucking terrible situation greatly. Cindy Sampson plays the leading female, Carmen, one of the dumbest fucking characters I can think of in recent memory. Not only is she stupid, but extremely selfish, as well. Carmen devised this trip to Poland to look for a missing American kid, and stops at nothing, even after they all discover that snooping around this village probably isn't the safest thing to be doing. As far as the performance goes, I guess Sampson was fine. I was honestly too focused on how much I despised the character that I wasn't paying full attention to her acting chops. Meghan Heffern plays Sara, Carmen's little puppy dog-like sidekick who does every damn thing she's told. No respect given here. The girl is fucking silly. Heffern seems kinda stiff in the part, too. Cute as hell, though.
David Scott serves up makeup and creature FX, and this is another plus mark for the film. Quite a few ghoulish lookin' sumbitches. Unfortunately, they are mostly shown in real quick editing sequences. The Shrine doesn't have a real heavy gore element, but they are a few fairly wincing scenes that made me shrivel up like an old man's dick, but only for a second. The computer generated FX are goddamn terrible. I mean bad. It really takes me out of the experience when poor CGI is thrown into the mix with practical FX. It can be done well, but when it's not, you have a fucking disaster on your hands, like here. However, the bad computer blood doesn't hold a candle to the stationary fog within the village's forest. Yikes. Looks like a fucking cartoon when the characters are standing at the perimeter of it. I guess it's more expensive, but I'd have much preferred a whole shit ton of fog machines. Oh well.
It's damn sad when I don't remember a film score, as I usually set out to take notice of movie music. I must be honest and say I don't remember a single fucking note in The Shrine. Bummer.
Final thoughts:
This one is painfully forgettable. I know it's a completely different kind of film, but Jack Brooks seemed to have so much more passion and spirit in it. The Shrine is really bland. There's plenty of movies I adore that take their time at getting you to a crazy as fuck ending. While this one does get pretty damn crazy, it just doesn't have enough positives going for it on the road to its final event.
